Gone, but not forgotten

2018 Finalist

Gone, but not forgotten

Media associated with this campaign

Overview of this campaign

Objective: To tell the story of every person gone missing in Croatia’s independence war and to show that even though they may be gone, but they are not forgotten.

25 years ago Croatia was a war front, fighting for the independence. The fallen city of Vukovar was ravaged by the horrors of war, becoming the symbol of the resistance. While the battle is over, the victims are still here.

There are over 1.500 of people gone missing in the war, their fate unknown.

There are over 1.500 of people gone missing in the war, their families still looking for them.

There are over 1.500 of people gone missing in the war, every one of them has a story and we decided to tell all of them.

As the years rolled by the Gone people faded in the collective conciseness. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall 24sata, the largest national media, launched a multiplatform content series named “Gone”. We publish one story a week, every week, and we are going to continue until the job is done.

Each story is encompassing the destiny of one person: last photos, stories of people still looking for them, places where they were last seen, thoughts, emotions, and hopes of mother, father, wife, and children.

Every week during 2017, we released a short 5-minute documentary broadcast on the Facebook page of 24sata (reach 1.250.000 users), 24sata.hr website (1.550.000 users) and YouTube channel. The same day the documentary is published, the story of the Gone person is also in the 24sata daily newspaper (400,000 readers).

Since the day one the “gone” series is under the high patronage of the Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, the President of Croatia.

Results for this campaign

Results: Mira Nikl and Marija Rauzan found their peace by finding out what happened to their loved ones, Government patronage and the event with Croatia’s President and families of Gone people, a published book with all stories of Gone people told thus far.

24sata launched a media campaign ‘Gone’ with the aim of finding missing persons or their remains because the institution's engagement in the investigation was gradually reduced over the years.

Every week we publish one story. Numerous well-known people from culture, science, and business joined the project, showing tortured families that Gone people are not forgotten.

The content is published with the high patronage of the President. She made a public appeal to all institutions, inviting them to help families of Gone people finding their loved ones. After almost a year we published a book with all the stories, materials and evidence we collected thus far. That was followed by an event with Croatia’s President and families of Gone people.

So far, we have helped two families to find the remains of the missing family members. Mira Nikl after the announcement of the article and documentary received a call to identify the remains of her son, gone missing 26 years ago. For her, it meant peace and a chance to say goodbye to her child at a funeral.

After coverage in “Gone”, Marija Rauzan received a documentation from the prison guard that shows her husband died in the Slavonski Brod prison, where he was violently taken away during the war.

The articles on the destinies of Gone people and their families amassed 1.600.000 times. On Facebook, there was a total of 1.500.000 views and about 250,000 views on YouTube.

Still, we publish one story a week, every week, and we are going to continue until the job is done. They may be gone, but they are not forgotten.